Yes! A cookbook writer who GETS what it's like to work in a bare-bones Pesach kitchen, not sure if you have a pareve sieve or not. (Though she recommends that everybody run out to buy a waffle iron for Pesach, which may not be the most practical suggestion ever.)

I discovered Shoyer through an invitation to watch her cook in the home of the U.S. Ambassador to Israel. Who could I resist an invite like this? (Not me!)

You know that feeling? When you’re expecting something really, really good in the mail?

Like a tasty treasure-trove of Starbucks instant coffee from your sister Canada? Because there IS no Starbucks in Israel, only Aroma, which isn’t nearly as good? (okay, only Aroma, and Greg, and Roladin and Maafah Na’aman, and a million other chains, which is fantastic, but they are NOT Starbucks)

I adore kichel, the dry unsweetened European cookie that has been a staple of Jewish life since… well, probably since someone’s Bubby needed to make cookies and discovered that she was out of sugar. Apparently, thousands of people out there on the Internet love kichel and want to know how to make it well at home.

But celebrity kosher baker Paula Shoyer does not. Which is too bad, because in every other way, she’s absolutely perfect.

I enjoyed a baking demo she did yesterday at the home of the U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro. She did a really great job of preparing a couple of basic recipes that I hope to share with you very soon.

But the real reason for her crusade to bring simple, delicious pareve baking recipes to home cooks is because, as she said yesterday, “in the U.S., pareve desserts… are absolutely horrific.”

Foremost among the horrors? The kichels on every table, at every shul kiddush. Paula did not mince words, describing them as a “dog biscuit with sugar on top.”

For years, in Canada, we were hooked on canned beans. We put up with them, even enjoyed them, if they were seasoned heavily enough.

Blah. Never again.

Here in Israel, I’ve become a beany snob.

(nothing delicious can come out of here…)

Canned beans may be easy, but they are also mushy and worse than flavourless – they’re tin-flavoured. Here, canned beans practically don’t exist, so we don’t have any choice. And the great news is that from-scratch beans are tastier, too. By which I mean they taste like something. As opposed to a tin can.

(It’s cold outside. Just close your eyes and think of delicious soup…)

Maybe you’re thinking you don’t need more soup recipes.

I agree. You don’t. Here’s how you can make your current homemade soups even better, without adding a ton of more work.

I’ve been making soup for years. Years and years. Years and years and years. But this year, I’ve discovered a trick that makes even good soups a million times greater. It boosts the soup’s nutrition and flavour – and it’s easy.